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Splendor at Court: Renaissance Spectacle and the Theater of Power
SPLENDOR AT COURT RENAISSANCE SPECTACLE AND THE THEATER OF POWER by Roy Strong, c1973, 283 pages including index. This book examines the Renaissance festival, which originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe in the sixteenth century. Profusely illustrated with 16 pages in full color and 200 black and white photographs. I promise excellent service and fast shipping.
- GenresHistory
287 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Roy Strong
171 books27 followersSir Roy Colin Strong FRSL (23 August 1935 - ) is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer.
He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was knighted in 1983.
He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was knighted in 1983.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 21, 2013
Rennaissance pomp and pageantry! All over the place! England, Italy, Austria, France. . .
The careful and wilful resurrection of classical motifs. The vast symbolic apparteus, such as the impressa, and the imagery, such as a helmet with bees building a hive in it, which means peace -- very recondite, and Ben Jonson explicitly says that the sharp and learned appreciate it, and the rest get to admire it.
The marked increase in control. Such as the symbolic fights, which got a particular boost from the death of Henry II in a tilt, supposed to be harmless. The shift to staging them indoors. And the addition of scenery with perspective, no less. It was also an era of massive improvements in scenery, so you could have a goddess descending in a cloud-borne chariot, and in the later part of the era actually have the cloud vanish. The introduction of ballet
But the fights had to be controlled also because the king of course had to win. Or perhaps Queen Elizabeth would, by pure virtue, pass through an enchantment and so rescue all the knights and ladies held prisoner in a castle. A deeply romantic genre, taking all the tropes of chivalric romance to stage rescues from enchantment with magical swords.
And if the sovereign was not actually an actor in it, you could count on a prince or princess.
Entries into cities -- whether your own city, as a visitor, or as part of an arranged marriage. And the differences between the regions. The de Medicis, for instance, were really big on making themselves look of long descent and establishment. The Holy Roman Empire emphasized peace. Charles I had masques where Heaven was reforming itself to emulate Charles's reign: Jupiter and Venus had returned to their spouses, Cupid had to put on clothes, gods could not keep pages or gentlemen of chamber unless they were 25 and had good beards. . . .
The careful and wilful resurrection of classical motifs. The vast symbolic apparteus, such as the impressa, and the imagery, such as a helmet with bees building a hive in it, which means peace -- very recondite, and Ben Jonson explicitly says that the sharp and learned appreciate it, and the rest get to admire it.
The marked increase in control. Such as the symbolic fights, which got a particular boost from the death of Henry II in a tilt, supposed to be harmless. The shift to staging them indoors. And the addition of scenery with perspective, no less. It was also an era of massive improvements in scenery, so you could have a goddess descending in a cloud-borne chariot, and in the later part of the era actually have the cloud vanish. The introduction of ballet
But the fights had to be controlled also because the king of course had to win. Or perhaps Queen Elizabeth would, by pure virtue, pass through an enchantment and so rescue all the knights and ladies held prisoner in a castle. A deeply romantic genre, taking all the tropes of chivalric romance to stage rescues from enchantment with magical swords.
And if the sovereign was not actually an actor in it, you could count on a prince or princess.
Entries into cities -- whether your own city, as a visitor, or as part of an arranged marriage. And the differences between the regions. The de Medicis, for instance, were really big on making themselves look of long descent and establishment. The Holy Roman Empire emphasized peace. Charles I had masques where Heaven was reforming itself to emulate Charles's reign: Jupiter and Venus had returned to their spouses, Cupid had to put on clothes, gods could not keep pages or gentlemen of chamber unless they were 25 and had good beards. . . .
Displaying 1 of 1 review